your father is suffering. [ male announcer ] honey nut cheerios tastes great and can help lower cholesterol. bee happy. bee healthy. [ female announcer ] try new chocolate cheerios with a touch of delicious chocolate taste in every bite. breaking news in montgery county, police are on the scene of a serious accident, a deadly one involving a police officer. >> it is easter suay, the holiest day on the christian calendar. a live look now at the lincoln memorial where a sunrise service is about to start. good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 today. >> it is easter sunday, april 4, 2010. the news is just ahead. first a look at the day's forecast. justin is in for chuck bell.

happy easter to you. >> happy easter to you, kimberly. what a nice start to the day we're dealing with right now as, again, the sunrise service, weather is looking good. there are a few clouds in the sky, so the sun may be inhibited a bit, but it should peek through enough, they are basicall scattered clouds. if you are heading out to church services, temperatures in the mid 50s. the sun will be up around 6:48. by midmorning the skies should be sunny as clouds should thin out and move off to the east. quickly returning to the 60s, then 70 degrees around noontime. so the overall forecast today, clouds early, more sun throughout the afternoon, uer 70s once again for the warm spot. a light breeze out of the northwest, 5 to 10. it gets warmer through the upcoming week. back to you. >> thanks. right now we're following breaking news in montgomery county. police are on the scene of a

deadly accident involving one of their own. the crash happened around 2:00 a.m. on randolph road and whe wheat wheaton. the crash involved a single officer. he was on duty heading to the report of a fight when his car suddenly left the road and hit a tree. the officer was pronoupsed dead at holy cross hospital. we're told he was a six-year veteran of the force. this morning people are gathering for easter sunrise service at the lincoln memorial on the mall. here's a live look from our city cam now. this is the holiest day for christians. they believe jesus rose from the dead three days after he was crucified. this morning's service begins at 6:30. it's organized by capital church in vienna and int.

tickets are not required. pope benedict is celebrating easter with a mass this morning. hundreds of thousands of faithful are listening to his easter message. you can see live the pope from his balcony. president obama used his weekly address to give an easter message of his own. >> on sunday my family will join other christians all over the world in marking the resurrection of jesus christ. while we worship in different ways, we remember the shared spirit of humanity that inhabits us all, jews and christians, muslims and hindus, believers and none believers. >> the president also talked about creating jobs and improving education. new today, the game we now know who is heading to the ncaa championship. >> here's your sports minute this morning. >> reporter: good morning. your sports minute on this easter sunday begins with the

final four and the national championship is set. duke against west virginia last night for the chance to advance. the blue devils downed the mountaineers, 78-57 thanks in part to john shier. duke will meet underdog butler on monday night. the hometown bulldog beat michigan state 52-50. gordon heyward scored 19 points. butler will appear in the ncaa title game for the first time in school history. on the ice, alexander semin scored his goal ensuring the victory. yesterday kevin youkilis hit a 2 two-run homer. the nats fall 6-1. opening day is monday against the phillies. that's your sports minute.

we now know gilbert arenas will serve his time at a halfway house in montgomery county. he pleaded guilty back in january to possessioning a gun without a license. a judge sentenced him to 400 hours of community service and 30 days in a halfway house. arenas will serve his time at the montgomery county pre-release center, which allows residents to leave for work or community service. arenas' arrival date has not been released for security reasons. but it is expected to happen soon. we're learning new details about the metrobus driver accused of pulling a knife on another driver while on the job. prosecutors will not pursue charges against the driver, however metro will continue its own investigation. police pulled over the driver in the 2900 block of minnesota avenue southeast friday night, derek ward reports the incident has bus riders and other drivers concerned. >> reporter: it was just after 5:00 p.m. on friday, according

to information released by metro, the bus running on the u-2 line and a passenger vehicle were trying to merge on w street. the two drivers got into a confrontation. the driver of the passenger vehicle said the driver of the bus pulled a knife and called 911. >> were a lot of police cars out there, maybe about 15 police cars. we were shocked because they pulled the bus driver off the bus. >> reporter: passengers remained on board until another bus driver was brought in to complete the route. >> most of the time you see something like that it's not the bus driver. >> reporter: on the street, a mixed reaction to the incident and the reaction to the bus driver. >> i think it's wrong what he did. he should be put in jail. >> reporter: but others say drivers have a hard way to go, so if a knife was wielded, that's hard other to excuse.

>> bus driver is there to do his job, if something is coming at him with some type of force, en you know what are they to do? >> reporter: the driver identified as dwayne adamson was processed and released by police. metro is conducting an internal investigation into the incident. derek ward, new 4 washington. well, the u.s. attorney has decided not to pursue criminal charges, metro's internal investigation will determine the bus driver's status going forward from here. it is 6:07. if you liked yesterday, you will love today. it just keeps coming. >> i was teased a bit yesterday because we were talking about how beautiful it was going to be, but we stepped outside and it was still cloudy. but justin was right, the sun came through and it was a gorgeous afternoon. the same today? >> exactly. we should be dealing with less clouds this morning. one of the warmest easters in

washington for a long time. some rain chances returning to the forecast though. detail coming up. if i had to sit on a bench during the middle of a game

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is drawing thousands of people to the nation's capital right now.

tourists and native washingtonians are struggling to get around, though. >> when that happens we tell you to take public transportation but even metro riders were held up. >> reporter: during the day, people were looking at the cherry blossom trees, but evening the crowds were thin, taking in the beauty of the trees on a gorgeous easter weekend. >> it's almost over, and i'm leaving back home in 19 days. i had to come and get a look at it. >> miss it. >> i will miss it. >> reporter: for those who tried to drive here it was all but useless. many motorists found themselves stuck in cars. it seemed the best way to get around was on foot. >> what did you think of all the people. >> it's crazy today.

yesterday as well. we went to the zoo. >> reporter: visitors say the metro stations were packed as well, so many tourists heading to the mall and other destinations. some were inconvenienced when a bomb threat and suspicious package closed the pentagon city metro station for two hours. but for most people, the difficulty in getting here was worth the trouble to see the blossoms and pink blooms. >> it was very romantic. the trees -- and you're sitting on the green lawn, too many people. i would have preferred to be a little more alone. >> reporter: what did you think of washington day with all of the people? >> a little too much. a little crowded. >> reporter: the cherry blossom festival has been excellent for tourism. some tourists tell us they got some great package deals to stay at area hotels for the weekend. >> the sad thing about those blossoms raining down, that means it's almost over. >> but you get out there and enjoy it while you can. >> that's right. it's 6:12, let's check in with

justin. good morning. >> good morning to you. a repeat of yesterday. this will be the trend as we head into the upcoming work week. enjoy your easter sunday. happy easter, everyone. looking at more sunshine. temperatures soaring into the 70s. as we look outside now, we are talking about nice conditions. there are some clouds off to the west. a thin band of clouds which will be push be into the d.c. area by the next half hour or so. morning clouds again, but by the afternoon mostly sunny conditions. the official temperature right now, 55 degrees. there's a light breeze out of the northeast at 6 miles per hour if you remember last year, easter sunday, we had a high temperature of 54. muchooler a year ago at this time. we will do a whole lot better today. again, it could be one of the warmest easters we've had in at least ten years. current temperatures, generally mid 50s. look off to the north and far west towards the blue ridge,

shenandoah valley, 60s right now. that's probably due to some of the cloud cover pushing over the mountains. as expected, this front was coming through dry, so no rain show showing up on doppler radar. good news for the sunrise services. temperatures compared to this time yesterday we are six degrees warmer at national airport, even further to the south. that warm air mass is in place, even behind the front it doesn't get terribly cold. dealing with temperatures still well above average. you could see the clouds move through last night, another band off to the west. that's with the front coming through. about the next half hour, hour, we will be dealing with clouds. they will thin out and we'll see more sunshine returning. the front pretty much on top of us. that warm air mass over the eastern shore. even behind it, temperatures still warm. looking at future cast. that high pressure off the east coast will be the dominant

feature, keeping our winds out of the south, that brings in warm temperatures. future cast trying to show a little shower late monday night as a disturbance coming through. we will just see clouds. for today, increasing sun through the afternoon. low 70s to the upper 70s. tomorrow a mix of sun and clouds, even warmer. high temperatures well in the 70s to near 80. opening day, again, monday afternoon, phillies and nationals, great. tuesday, down right hot. 82. wednesy, the 80s continue. then things change by the second half of the upcoming week. thursday and friday, timing uncerta uncertain, it looks like late thursday into friday, some rain chances and in the 60s. >> so still chilly in the morning but it will warm up. >> yeah. that's promise. >> up next, reporter's notebook

a look at stories effecting your community. >> for now here is pat lawson muse. good morning. welcome to "reporters notebook." we begin with mass shootings in the nation's capital. it appears a man's missing bracelet may be behind the drive-by shootings of nine people following a funeral. the shootings left four people dead and five wounded in one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence in d.c. in years. one of the suspects, a 20-year-old, allegedly involved in the murder of man buried on tuesday. another man was the alleged driver of the getaway car that led police on a high speed chase that ended with a collision in prince george's county what is your reaction to something like this happening in the district? >> well, it's unfortunate.

i mean, that's underscored. it's sad that we live in this kind of violence, with this kind of violence in the community. there's a lot of finger pointing as to why this kid is out on the block, whether the prosecutor's office fell through, whether the mayor fell through or what. but the one thing pat and jim that i don't hear in the investigations, how do tse guns get on the streets of washington? i hear little about investigating how these guns get -- we are talking about attack rifles, rifles that cost a lot of money. i think that's one of the roots this city has to look at. >> i think the range of valuables is interesting. the assault weapons, ak-47, and that contrasted to a bracelet. i think it does speak to, you knows value quotient in the community. how could the value of a

bracelet equal the value of a life in the minds of young people. why is a 26-year-old monan, a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old child together on a drive-by to shoot into a crowd. obviously there were targets, but when nine people are hit, it boggles my mind. the details of when warrants and to whom they should have been issued, that's still unfolding. you could hear the mayor and chief of police uncomfortable about the very idea that had one more arrest occurred, then this never would have happened. >> there's a loud outcry from parents who believe had they kept this 20-year-old man in custody, that perhaps this wouldn't have happened. >> one of the big outcries, and this is a song sung over the years in that part of southeast washington, highlands, all down

by south capital, parkland, we don't get the attention in the city that the city should be giving us out here. they need help. this is one of the cries that the parents said out on the street the other day. one father said, you know, he told marion barry, we don't get the attention out here we should be getting. >> there was anger. in fact, mayor fenty was booed at a vigil on wednesday night. is the city to blame for this, jim? >> i don't think that you can lay all of the blame on any jurisdiction. i think what we have are a combination of generational issues. and i don't necessarily believe

poverty causes crime, but the complex hirsies of urban areas, where there are high concentrations of african-americans, now, that having been said, parenting is another issue. my 14-year-old is not going to be hanging out with a 26-year-old and a 20-year-old, especially driving and shooting somebody. again, the value systems. you can't blame a city or a school or a teacher for instilling those values -- >> it's not so much blaming, jim. >> well somebody has to be blamed when you have nine people shot. >> if that's the case we might as well blame the whole system from what we see on television and the movies today to -- >> okay. >> -- to what goes on in the schools, but the point is that at one time in this city we had great programs, youth programs. washington action youth and programs -- >> and it didn't work. programs don't raise children. >> excuse me, let me finish. we had programs that did work in

the summer time, especially with summer jobs off. no. programs don't raise children, but the problem here is occupancy. what occupies young peoples minds in the neighborhoods? >> i think we have believed for generations since lyndon johnson started with the best of intentions thinking that you could address urban poverty the sale way you address rural poverty. he was wrong then, it's wrong now. values have to emanate from parenting. >> we have to move on to another topic. politics, which this may impact this year. it's an election year. d.c. council vincent gray will challenge adrian fenty this year. gray says he can unify the city and looks forward to a spirited campaign. he joins eight others in the race, and a tenth now says he is going to run. it's shaping up to be a very

race, to be very competitive. >> it's going to be interesting six months, that's all i can say. i would say this, you know, i take the quote from the newspapers last week -- i'm a ho homey, unquote, meaning vincent gray is a homeboy. people look at him that way. i know mayor fenty has raised some $3 million, but washington is not like cleveland ohio or chicago or new york. this is not a money town when it comes to politics. let me finish, please. it's a town -- i've always seen it a town of personalities. the best proof there is marion barry who was always poor and can always do a comeback. >> yeah. he may have $3 million but a lot has changed in the eight years. the city has changed a lot. politics in the city. >> politics has changed.

the views on fund-raising has changed. jerry, you would have to admit that you don't get elected in a city like washington without a hefty war chest. that gives adrian fenty, even with maybe the problems that he may have in some minds, an advantage because he has been at this for a few years now. >> could he be the wild card here? >> who, the mayor? >> peoples. >> peoples could. he was in, thinking about it, he's not going to do it. >> you know says he's going to run. >> the real problem for that may be a lot of people thought his support would be thrown behind vincent gray. >> i wouldn't give up on that idea. i would not give up on that idea right now. >> how disruptive will vincent gray's race be to the council? it's facing a $500,000 deficit at a time when the majority of the council is up for re-election.

>> the next six months or so are going to be -- >> it's a good time to be in journalism or community journalism. it's going to be a circus, here we have a city council that has also been pulled across the coals when you look at what's happening to schools, on the streets, with the police department as well as jobs in the city. all of these issues, poverty is a big issue that came out last week. studies showing the number of people who are poor, all of these will be election issues that will have to be addressed by these candidates. ♪

hey bets, can i borrow a quarter? sure, still not dry? i'm trying to shrink them. i lost weight and now some clothes are too big. how did you do it? simple stuff. eating right and i switched to whole grain. whole grain... [ female announcer ] people who eat more whole grain tend to have a healthier body weight. multigrain cheerios has five whole grains and 110 calories per serving. multigrain cheerios. try new chocolate cheerios with a touch of delicious chocolate taste in every bite. welcome back. continuing for a moment with d.c. politics. so vincent gray runs for mayor, his seat is up for grabs. two others have jumpednto that race. >> i still go back to what i'm

saying, washington politics is funny. jack evans running for chair, i would be surprised if jack evans -- if vincent gray didn't run for mayor and ran for his seat again as chair, i would be surprised if jack evans would run against him. >> but he is running, though he has never won a city-wide race. he did run for mayor and lost, but he's never run city-wide. however he would point out that politics has changed a lot in '98, which is when he ran. >> i guess it becomes a question, if you hang around long enough, do you get -- >> the city has changed. >> it has. >> he was one of those young ones, evans, brazil, those guys, evans wanted to be mayor. he has gotten some accomplishments on the council. he may be the heir apparent for

vincent gray's seat, but maythes something to be said about that. >> earl gray announced he wants to challenge martin o'malley. the gop gains around the country have apparently breathed new life or hopes into maryland's gop. >> you hear tones coming out of the camp saying this is a new day. they are looking at what happened in massachusetts, what happened over in virginia. >> new jersey. >> new jersey. these are blue states, and now the republican party, they have this sing song that we are the comeback kid with turning these states back to red. how it will work in maryland, i don't know. i will say this. in order for urlich to run and

get that popularity to win, he has to bring national figures in, such as a sarah palin. >> and do you think he will. and is maryland ripe for the picking like those oth states? people are angry about health care reform. >> people are angry, but it's hard to know right now how this will play out. i will say it does not appear at the republicans have the kind of mojo that you would expect. because in a mid term situation, with the democrats having the white house and both houses of congress, usually the other party would emerge to get back some seats. the republicans have been clumsy on the national level. let's remember urlich did have some success against kennedy

town se townsend a few years ago. >> if you look at the winds of the republicans in massachusetts as well addres new jersey and virginia, they ran against some shaky candidates on the democratic side. martin o'malley is not a shaky candidate. >> he's no slouch. >> he's well-liked. this is a different situation for republicans in maryland. >> many would say that the republicans stand a greater chance of picking up seats in the general assembly than the governor's seat. in virginia, president obama reversed an earlier decision and said he will allow off-shore drilling along vast stretches of the u.s. coastline including virginia, part of the plan includes drilling in areas that are about 50 miles from the state's shoreline. the program could bring new oil and natural gas platforms to waters along the southern atlantic coast and in the gulf as well as parts of alaska. governor mcdonald campaigned on this. how does this make him look?

he and the president are agreeing here. >> he jumped on this with both feet. >> right. >> this is definitely an initiative. i think the politics of this are obama positioning himself within the senate to get an energy bill passed. so he's taking the legs out of -- one of the planks out of the republican platform with off-shore drilling. >> he said he will create jobs. >> are you talking about obama or macdonald? >> both. >> both have been singing that same song. go back to the beginningf the campaign with mcdonald, people said he could be a moderate. this might be the moderate avenue of he aligning himself with this. >> i think obama aligned himself with this. thank you, guys. that's reporters notebook,ew 4 today continues.

breaking news is morning in montgomery county, a police officer killed in the line of duty. his cruiser somehow ran off the road and crashed. good morning. welcome t news 4 today. >> it is easter sunday, april 4th, 2010. we will look at that breaking news in a moment. first a quick look at the forecast. justin is in for chuck bell. what's going on? >> another warm easter sunday on tap. temperatures soaring well into the 70s. unlike yesterday, it looks like we will be dealing with less clouds this morning. temperatures should climb up quicker than yesterday. there are still a few clouds going on now as we have a weak but dry cold front coming through. sunrise services, sun may be

limited as it is rising at 6:48 this morning. but, again, by 8:00 or so, we should see skies returning mostly sunny. finitely by late morning hours, then climbing up to 70 degrees by noontime. afternoon highs, again, approaching the upper 70s in the warm spots with plenty of sun. light breezes coming in out of the northwest. we won't be dealing with those bay breezes. everybody should be experiencing the warm temperatures this afternoon. >> all right. sounds good. thanks. > . folt lowing breaking news in montgomery county. police are on the scene of a deadly accident involving one of their own. this happened about 2:00 a.m. on randolph road and wheaton. police say the accident involved a single officer, he was on duty at the time heading to the report of a fight when his car left the road and hit a tree. the officer was pronounced dead at holy cross hospital. we're told he was a six-year veteran of the force.

it is easter morning, the holiest day on the christian calendar. right now sunrise services under way at the lincoln memorial. here's a live look from our city cam. thousands of people are attending the service at the lincoln memorial. it's organized by capital chuh in vienna, an interdenominationinterdenomina n interdenominational congregation. this was the scene in vatican city. hundreds of thousands turned out despite the rain to listen to the pontiff's easter message. the pope made no mention of the sex abuse scandal, but the vatican newspaper and other church leaders are speaking out about the crisis. ann thompson reports now from rome. >> reporter: the catholic church is under siege.

the archbishop of canterbury criticized the way the catholic church dealt with the crisis in ireland. >> an institution bounded so deeply within society, suddenly losing all credibility. that's not just a problem for the church, it's a problem for everybody. >> reporter: that brought swift resfrons dublin catholic archbishop working to heal the pain of widespread abuse in church institutions. >> it's damaging for those trying to restore credibility to be wiped off with general comments like that. >> reporter: the archbishop of canterbury apologized saying he did not mean to criticize or attack the catholic church. in vatican city, officials spent the day trying to repair the damage done friday night by the pope's preacher.

>> in new york -- >> i thought it shows the depth of ignorance in the church, church leaders, because there is no comparison. >> absolutely not. >> reporter: the vatican's spokesperson said the comparison is not the sinking of the church. in the u.s., victims attorneys continue to release documents they claim show churc officials knew about the abuse problem but dragged their feet. in munich, cardinal marks prayed for a church renewed by easter. a knnew start that is possible. >> it's like having have surgery to remove a tumor. the scandal is an opportunity to cure the disease so that the priesthood can be built up in the future. >> reporter: ann thompson, nbc news, roam. supreme court justice john paul stevens says he will

definitely retire when president obama is in the white house. he says he will most likely step aside within the next year, that will open the door for his second nominee. his firstsonstevens says he wil soon whether he will step down this year or early 2011. >> prosecutor also not press charges against the metrobus driver accused of pulling a knife while on the job. metro says the incident happened after 5:00 p.m. on friday. a bus on the u-2 line and another vehicle were trying to merge on w street southeast. the other driver says the metrobus operator displayed a knife so he called 911. police caught up with the bus in the 2900 block of minnesota avenue veesoutheast and arreste the driver. passengers remained on board

until another bus driver was brought in to complete the route. nobody was injured. the bus driver, identified as dwayne adamson, was processed and released by police. new this morning, keep an eye on your bank account if you use the atm at congressional plaza in montgomery county. police say they found a device on wachovia's atm in rockville. a very alert citizen reported seeing some sort of skimming device saturday night. police are trying to figure out what the device is. the bank has been notified. if you use the atm, check for strange activity on your bank account. it's an odd thing, i do find myself now looking at the atm before i put the card in. >> i cover my hand like this. you never know. >> all right. the time is 6:37. an 8-year-old takes his parents van for a spin. wait until you find out where he

was going. >> here's a way to get out your aggression. >> and will the weather hold out for easter sunday? how about the work week? justin's full forecast coming up. it's definitely expensive having a growing family. and it's something that you think about. we try to be conscious of that and plan out our meals so that we can feed everyone on a budget. at giantwe know savi money is important. every time you shop with your card, you can enjoy thousands of real deal sings and weekly specials. like super g spiral sliced ham, $1.28 a pound, and beef rib roast, $4.99 a pound. this weekend only. it makes me feel good because we're saving money. and that works for me. only with your giant card.

we've been following breaking news all morning from wheaton. police are investigating a deadly accident involving one of

their own. >> it happened on randolph road. derrick ward is there live now. >> this happened about 2:21 p.m. this morning. as you can see behind me, randolph road, the 3000 block of randolph road is closed for the investigation. we want to show you the scene from earlier this morning. it was about 2:21 a.m. police say this officer was responding to a call for a fig between several individuals. at some point that car ran off the road and struck a tree. we understand it took several minutes to get the officer out of the car. he was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. the identification has not been released yet pending notification of next of kin. we know the officer is a six-year veteran of the force. not much information at this hour. this is still under investigation. but randolph road, the 3,000 block of randolph road is closed pending the finishing of this

investigation, a fatal crash involving a montgomery county police officer. back to you. >> looking at the video there, it almost looks like the road might have been wet, a bit slick. >> it's hard to say. we have not encountered anything, there is dew on the grass, but that's part of the mystery of this, why that cruiser left the road. it is a single car accident. >> right. okay. derek ward, thank you. it is 6:42 now. we will take a short break and come back with your forecast.

the white house easter egg roll is tomorrow. it's the largest public event held at the white house each year. about 30,000 people from all 50 states are expected to be there. you are looking at video from the kids last year. they won't just roll easter egg but also get a lesson on healthy eating. white house chef also tell the kids how to eat better. >> if you are in the weeds in restaurant terms, you are in trouble fwhushgs this case a pile of weeds saved a money who crashed his hang glider yesterday.

the weeds and branches cushioned his fall. rescue crews used ropes and a harness to help him out. an 8-year-old boy who likes cars decided to hop behind the wheel of his parents minivan while they were asleep. he says he was helping them out. he's just lucky he wasn't seriously hurt. >> reporter: the skid marks show an accident from a trip that came up a little short it turns out that is not all that is short. >> this is the brake, this is the gas. >> reporter: so was the driver. the 8-year-old, who shows us how he to stand up to reach the pedals and hey, since he already knew how to have fun. >> i scared the cat.

>> repter: so why not go for a little ride. before it was over, he scared more than the cat. >> i had to turn, and i -- then i crashed into a -- i almost crashed into the -- >> reporter: telephone pole? >> telephone pole. >> reporter: this is the van he was driving. his parents van. they were still asleep when jordan took off and got a wake-up call that was a wake-up. >> i got woken up by the sheriff on our car. >> reporter: james crouch said he was trying to be helpful. >> he was trying to get vgas in the van. >> reporter: jordan didn't make it to the gas station. he only traveled about a hundred yards or so. but he will get mileage out of what he learned today. >> did you learn a lesson out of this? >> yeah. >> what's the lesson? >> never to drive unless you're 16. >> prett good lesson learned.

the towns local newspaper reports jordan is likely to be cited for driving without a cense. >> and he has to write that check to pay the fine. >> yeah, they will garnish his allowance for years until he's 16. did you notice in that easter video, the kids were bundled up? >> it was cold last year. >> not this year. >> justin? >> big changes. last year we were in the 50s this year in the 70s, approaching 80. a welcomed change. it's been a long winter across the washington area. a nice break. let's get down to it. outside currently, a bit on the cooler side, in the 50s. that's not bad. we should be in the low 40s for our normal low temperatures this time of year. there are mid to high-level clouds going on right now. that's because of a weak and dry cold front, which is sliding across our viewing area now, but not producing any rain. that's good news.

current check at national airport, 55 degrees. light breeze out of the northeast, 6 miles per hour. as we mentioned, a bit cooler as we saw high temperatures only in the mid 50s. we will do much better this year, a good 20, 25 degrees warmer than that. current check on some regional temperatures, again, 50s. that seems to be the popular number. 60s off to the north and west, out towards the blue ridge, shenandoah valley. that's because of the wind coming off the mountains. that compresses and warms up. that's why we are seeing the temperatures. everybody will be in the 60s before you know it in the next few hours, then we'll climb back to the 70s. live look at radar now. th radar picking up a few returns around baltimore. i checked the latest surface observations, couldn't find rain reported. most likely that is not reaching the ground. dry start to your easter sunday. that will be the trend throughout the afternoon. we'll widen things up and talk about the temperatures. coare there now to yesterday at this time. six degrees warmer.

that just shows that the air mass istill in place out ahead of this cold front. as you go west of the appalachians, it cools off a bit. but not a big change in air mass. which is uncommon for this time of year. as this front passes, you will notice a wind switch, the sun will return, temperatures remaining in the 70s. we had the clouds come through last night. a thin band of clouds over us now. those should move through the next hour or so. there is the front over central virginia, the washington area right now. it's quickly moving off to the east. in between two areas of high pressure so that high pressure off to the west will regain control later this afternoon into the first half of the upcoming work week. looking at future cast, rest of today no problems. a few scattered clouds, generally mostly sunny skies. on monday we will start off with sunshine. there's another weak disturbance that will try to come through monday night. a few rain showers trying to

develop. it's possible out in the mountains. most areas will be dry. good opening day for the nationals. by tuesday, that's going to be the hot day as temperatures are well into the 80s. for your easter sunday, enjoy it. the morning clouds we're seeing now will give way to mostly sunny skies. 73 to 78 for high temperatures. here's your monday. hopefully you're lucky to have the day off. 78 for the high. more clouds late in the day. nationals opening day, no problems there. upper 70s. tuesday and wednesday, down right hot. i think everybody will be reaching the 80s or just about everyone in the viewing area. thursday and friday, different story. cooling things off, a chance of showers returning to the forecast. >> sounds like put a sweater over the easter dress and you'll be shedding it later this afternoon. >> exactly. typical april afternoon. >> sports, it sounds like the redskins might be dealing for another star. >> and the capitals put on a

strong showing against the blue jackets. this morning we start with the redskins. jay glazer tweeted last night there is more interest from the skins for mcnabb. heard they even talked players in a related stories, skins corner deangelo hall has advice for mcnabb. he said "he doesn't want to go to oakland, tell him that. if you have any say so in the matter, tell him i said that. on the ice, the capitals in columbus. alex ovechkin and the capital going for win number 51. brooks likes semin, he shoots and scores. a hot shot. his 38th goal of the season. later, same score. and more caps. poty dump it in.

and fair to knuble to fleschman, 2-0 washington lead. fleschman tallies his 22nd of the season. later, more capitals. columbus tries to clear it. mike green says you are not stopping this shot, dude. green scores his 19th of the season. 74th point. caps take a 3-0 lead after the first. jose theodore was the man. shuts the door down the stretch, making 34 saves in all. the caps win it 3-2. talking baseball now. the nationals pitching rotation is set. yesterday righty garrett mock was named the starter in place of garrett olson who was sent down. we're at nats park, d.c. mayor a adrian fenty throwing the first

pitch. looks good. youkilis crushes this to left for a two-run homer. jim riggleman thinking, come on, man. come on. help me out here. red sox take a 2-0 lead like that. top of the sixth, 4-0 red sox. sean burnett on the hill. pudge rodriguez sets up outside. but the pitch is not outside, over the inside half of the plate. bill hall sends it down the right field line. mike lowell and jason varitek come around to score. boston on top 6-0. hall ends up with a two rbi triple. bottom of six, still6-0 sox. ryan zimmerman up with runners on the corner against daisuke matsuzaka drives one to right. check out josh redick. simply glovely. desmond tags and scores, but that's as close as the nats get.

they lose it 6-1. the nats home opener set for 1:05 against the phillies. arrive early, the president is throwing out the first pitch. college lacrosse last night, maryland against the best team in the land, the number one ranked virginia cavaliers. the last time to terps and cavs played it went eight o.t.s. none in this one. late period first, virginia up 5-0. john holdy makes the move and fires one into the net. just like that, cavs up 6-0. but the terps comes back. y yateman feeds cummings up over front. the terps cut the deficit to one. all right so just over a minute later, maryland's dan burn comes up with the steal. he's going the other way. feeds grant catalino for the shot. adam giddelman makes the save. young steps on the red crease

line when he scores, you can't do that. no goal. maryland still down a goal. second play, virginia seals it. number one shamel bratton, he's really, really good look for some space, creates it and scores. virginia hangs on to win it, 11-9. they are 10-0. the terps fall to 6-2. d.c. united playing its home open are tonight against new england. black and red seeking redemption after a 4-0 shutout last weekend and a huge crowd on hand for the opener at rfk stadium, beautiful night for it, but it didn't go well. 80th minute scoreless. new england wearing white. kennyman salei in front and beats troy perkins. new england up 1-0. minutes later here comes new england again and it's kenny minsali again, shoots it from about 20 yards out and this is

whatou call an upper-90 shot. d.c. united falls 2-nil the final. in case you missed it, yesterday was international pillow fight day. of course there were plenty of people in d.c. eager to take part. this started in front of the washington monument at 2:00 and moved to dupont circle. 600 people we involved, there were rules, hit lightly and no using down pillows because they're too messy. >> are no rules in pillow fighting. >> bringing levity to the nation's capital. we'll be back in two and a half if i had to sit on a bench during the middle of a game

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good morning. welcome to news 4 today. i'm kimberly suiters. >> justin is standing by with a forecast that gets you pumped up. >> i'm excited to deliver it, i think everybody is excited to hear it and experience a great easter weekend. we will keep this weather going into early this week. that's great news. if you are heading out to church services, cool right now. looking at 50s. but the sun should return in

full by mid to late morning, a warm afternoon as we soar well into the 70s. sunset tonight at 7:35. a great travel day as far as weather conditions. i'm sure the highways will be busy. more sun through the afternoon, to 78 for the high temperatures. we're looking at widespread 80s in our forecast for the upcoming work week. all those details coming up. thanks, justin. >> breaking new now in montgomery county. police are on the scene of a deadly accident involving a single police officer. this happened around 2:00 a.m. on randolph road in wheaton, right by wheaton high school. the officer was on duty at time heading to the report of a fight when his car left the road and hit a tree. the officer was pronounced dead at holy cross hospital. we are told he was a six-year veteran of the force. this morning people are gathering for easter sunrise service at the lincoln memorial on the mall.

this is the holiest day for christians. here's a live look from our city cam. organizers expect more than 3,000 people to gather there this morning. the sunrise service at the lincoln memorial did start 30 minutes ago. it's organized by capital church in vienna. we now know gilbert arenas will serve his time at a halfway house in montgomery county. he pleaded guilty back in january to possessing a gun without a license. judge sentenced him to 400 hours of community service and 30 days in a halfway house. those are some of the stories making news today. next is "viewpoint." we'll be back in a few minutes with an update. see you then. good morning. welcome to "viewpoint." the celebrations of easter and passover are two of the most sacred religious celebrations in

the country, and to those of the christian and jewish faiths, today we discuss the traditions, rituals and meanings of these sell breaks and the relevance of them in today's day and time. thank you both for joining us this morning. in a country that is more racially and socially divided and politically polarized than ever, how relevant are the celebrations of passover and easter? rabbi? >> passover is a concept of a beginning. the whole concept of the jewish people that can only come from a jewish perspective. we celebrated passover. passover is the first festival if the series of festivals, it was the birth of the jewish nation. when you have the concept of birth and beginning, everything

in the past doesn't exist anymore. it's like a new sheet, you can create it into what you want to be. the concept of passover is a liberation to become who you want to be without having to be tied down to what was in the past. >> do you see an active, healthy, practicing of those tenants today in america? >> there is a -- again, coming from a jewish faith, our holidays give us the capacity and give us -- every holiday in the jewish year has its element. the element of passover is a new beginning. and the concept of starting all over again, you may be familiar

with ro with the concept of passover, a new beginning. so one of those things i would like to discard and not have in my own personality, let me see if i can get this into my mind as i'm practicing the passover observances. let me see if i can bring that into my life and get rid of those things. ultimately we all have the opportunity to change. it's always in us to change to be the person we would like to be. >> how relevant is easter? >> critically relevant, the highest and most important feast of our year, though christmas is more sentimental to people, this is the heart of what the lord has done for us, to die and set us free from sin. as the rabbi was saying, to bring about liberation for the christian. it is not just, well, he cleansed me of my sins, that's kind of letting go of a negative thing. but he's also done something positive for us.

he's liberated us, given us authority. to link it to what you were saying earlier about our divisions, i think that we have, today, i think a struggle that many people have with anger. one of the things that i have experienced in my own life is how the lord has liberated me from anger. there was a time in my life when i was much more young and angry. and now i'm able to be more compassion and in and listen. that's not something i can boost in only something the lord has done for me in liberating me from anger. i think anger itself is not wrong. we have a lot of that in our lture, but people struggle to manage their anger and it comes to the boiling point and they do inappropriate things. going back to the idea of liberation, dr. martin luther king had a wonderful approach. he understood people were angry, and they should be angry, however he tried to help them become creative with their anger d be constructive with it

rather than destructive. >> rabbi, do you think americans are too angry? >> i think americans as a who whole -- in a neighbor to neighbor basis, people say i hate those people in washington, but my neighbor, i disagree with him, but i still like him. if youake away t wway those peo the american people are good people. get rid of the noise, you will find lots of good. >> mon>> those who shout the loudest get the most news, so generally -- i agree with what the rabbi said. in the christian tradition, it is sometimes easy for us to say

we love someone that we never met, but we struggle to love people we actually live with in our family. it's also the opposite that is true. many times it's easy to be angry with abstractions, certain political party or to be angry with a group of people. but, you know, i find that most people still are civil with their neighbors. i find that people are generally kind and -- so i think your insight, rabbi, as well, is that i think that sometimes we magnify the differences more than we should. i think still americans are good and decent people who get along well with each othe

welcome back. we are continuing our discussion about easter and passover. monsignor, let's talk about the easter tradition and the way christians practice eaer. you got bunnies and eggs and the cross and resurrection.

>> right. in the catholic tradition, of which i most directly speak, we don't see easter as just one day. in fact we have an entire week that we call holy week and we follow the lord through his passion, death and resurrection. so we go through all of those stages with him. tonig tonight, all throughout the world easter is being celebrated. but thursday began what we call our sacred three days. we gathered with the people at mass and we were in the upper room with jesus he celebrated the passover, which was not only the last summer but the first mass. then he's arrested on midnight on thursday, he spends time in the dungeon that night and he is try tried and condemned to death.

by noontime he's on the cross on friday. all of these are ways that we acknowled acknowled acknowledge liturgically the days. >> do you think it's become a matter of ritual with no meaning? >> yes, i think it's always a struggle. we live in a culture that has become increasingly secular. you mentioned the easter bunny earlier. holiday is a mispronunciation of holy day. these festivals go back to ancient christian and jewish traditions. the challenge for us as christian clergy is to make this not just a ritual but preach about liberation from sin, to preach about what the lord has done for us. >> rabbi, talk about the ancient traditions of passover and the celebration and the traditions.

>> when it comes to passover, look to the exodus in the bible and the story tells us for seven days, we only eat matsa. ultimately god chose abraham to say your descendants are going to be the nation who i amoing give them the torah, the bible, all the commandments therein, what we call the chosen people. we start with abraham, in order to get through that process they have to go through what we call like a smelting pot. and a purifying process. that was the concept of egypt. when it came out of egypt, there was a concept this is the birth of a people. when the people are just born, when you get somebody started, in many cases, you hire someone

to work, you want to give him, that person whate needs to do, not that heomes in with his ideas. in a similar fashion, when we're born as a people on passover, the first step was understand the concept of humility. no arrogance. bread, the rising of bread, the rising of dough symbolizes the concept of arrogance. you are just starting now. like, baby spiritual food for you. >> that's why the bread is un v unleven. >> that is why. it is not that we are one step ahead of everybody else, but god gave us additional responsibilities, and with freedom, as in any case, with freedom comes responsibilities, with freedom comes opportunity.

>> for many has the celebration of passover become just a tradition or is it practiced with those meanings in mind? >> interestingly enough, of many jewish holidays, passover is the widest celebrated holiday, and the general concepts are there. the general concepts of freedom are there. the deeper meaning into passover, the concept of humility, the concepts of a fresh start that this is a birth where it's all starting all over again and make it into what you can make it into, those ideas are not as familiar. but the general concepts of freedom are familiar. there are more things that have become more secularized. i'm not a fan of $100,000 bar mitzvah s. >> we have to take a break. if we don't know how big our community is,

how do we know how big our hospitals need to be? the census helps us know exactly what we need, so everyone can get their fair share of funding. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census.

in the headlines, police are on the scene of a deadly accident involving a single officer. it happened around 2:00 a.m. on raolphoad by wheaton high school. the officer was on duty at the time heading to the report of a fight when his car left the road and hit a tree. the officer was pronounced dead at holy cross hospital. we are told he was a six-year veteran of the force. today christians around the world celebrate easter. many gathered for a sunrise ceremony at the garden tomb, some believe it is the burial site of jesus. and the white house easter egg roll is tomorrow. about 30,000 people are expected on the south lawn for music, activities and the egg roll. it's an annual tradition that goes back to 1878. now back to "viewpoint."

welcome back. monsignor polk, we talked about how people are angry, and too many people don't see eye to eye on too many things. talk about the importance of learning to appreciate the views of someone whose views are different than yours. >> to link it to what we said earlier, we talked about liberation, liberation from anger and also the great gift of love. in the christian tradition, we are summoned to love everyone, even our enemy. this may seem to the ordinary human being to be impossible at times, that's why we see it as a gift from god. i have to get on my knees and say, lord, help me to really love people. again, the idea then, i think, comes to speak the truth to one

another in love. but to first love the people you're speaking with, not just want to dominate them, win an argument or out-shout them but to actually love them is the gift that christ gives us among others at easter. >> rabbi? >> from a jewish perspective, i mentioned the land before the chosen people. i think the monsignor will agree with us, agree that we are called the chosen people. people find that to be a strong statement. how do you know? what does that say about everybody else? jewish tradition, the perspective is everybody here on this world is part of god's creation. god has a plan -- everybody here is part of god's plan. so god's plan was that there were one group of people that he would give them the commandments, you don't have to eat mat tshgmatza on passover.

>> i love it. >> you don't have to eat it, on the other side of that, the concept of everybody's responsibility for morality, for justice, for goodness, for kindness, from a jewish perspective is there for everybody. it's not simply a jewish thing. goodness is worldwide. from a jewish perspective we want everybody to be leading a moral life, just life a good life, helping others as well. if others find that within their own religions, if non-jewish people find within their own religions the ability for kindness and morality, what we call the seven noah laws, those

laws are there for everyone. and what we want to see is that everybody should find -- be able to find pomorality, justice, kindness and if they find that through their religion, through their religious practices, that's a positive for everyone. >> there are many people suffering through the economic downturn, and frankly had their lives turned upside down because of how difficult it is to make it today. how do these two religions and holidays, or what do these two religious holidays have to offer people in terms of hope, encouragement? >> again, it's easy to say, well, i'll pray for you. i hope things go better. the christian tradition would always say we can't simply pray for others, we have to work and act for others.

as a christian community, we have to be careful. in my own parish, for example, there's a lot of people helping each other to find jobs now. i have a number of people who are out of work. several parishioners active in helping them set up resumes and get out there. we are doing a jobs program through the interfaith network, working with green jobs. so we have a number of things to address with. not just pray, withou prayer none of us will take wing, but this is part of the solution. >> when it becomes passover, we make sure everybody has a place for the say thor and for weeks prior we are calling people and making sure everybody in the community has a place. the concept of -- as we spoke

about ultimately as a nation we're good people. when people come together, celebrating, it lifts spirits, gives people the energy and hope that we can do something in the future. there's the practical ends, but the mere fact of passover, you are not sitting in your home and doing it. we are doing this collectively, it inspires people to -- with hope and -- for a better tomorrow than today. >> it's a tough challenge f

welcome back. we're talking about easter and passover. we talked about the traditions and the hope and the ritual. parents have a responsibility to pass on to their children their own values and morals. are parents doing enough, do you

believe today, to pass along the best i these two faiths? and does the younger generation suffer as a result of that? >> i can only speak from the perspective of passover and the message of parents and children. the passover seder, the book of the passover seder, the book comes from the word tell. it says tell your children. it doesn't say it once, it says it four times. it says bring everybody together, tell your children about the story. tell your thing about the traditions. we take e four times that the torah tells us, the bible tells us about telling our children, we say the torah is speaking about different types of kids. the good kid ready to do whatever the parent tells, the kid who is the protagonist, whatever the parentsays, he

does the opposite. some kid that doesn't really care much, and the kid that doesn't know -- where to get started. the concept is what you have, the whole concept of the seder is what you have, it's not just celebrating your freedom. you're not free unless you've been able to pass that message on to your kids as well. >> monsignor? >> i think it's clear that in the christian tradition that i can speak most specifically about, back in the '50s, 80% of people went to mass every sunday. now we're down to 20%, 30%. so we're had a falling off of handing on the faith. the world is filled with many different influences today that weren't there in the '50s. i see that in the catholic tradition, we have to recover almost three generations. i spend most of my time -- we have sunday school, the kids are being taught, i require the parents to come and within me in

class as well because they need to be taught as much as the children. thatay they can be more equipped to hand on the faith to children. >> what is the message, the main message that would like to see left ithe minds of those who are watching this morning about easter and passover? rabbi? >> for the people of jewish faith, i want them to get the message that passover, it all starts all over again. we can do it again and we can do it better this time than we did it last time. and every year we go through a cycle, but the cycle repeats itself. we want the cycle not to be a cycle, we want the cycle to be a spiral. every time we come back to that same point next year, we are doing a little better than the year before. for people of other faiths, celebrate their faith and find god in their lives, morality and kindness.

>> monsignor? >> i do not have to go on living dominated by sin, lust, greed, corruption of any kind. the lord, by his power, can completely set me free and equip me to love, equip me to live with self-control, moderation in this world that needs that kind of a message, that it is not just about gratifying myself but living for the lord and others. >> the message from one neighbor to another. >> well, perhaps to go back to what i was saying earlier. love. it is the gift that we have to receive from god. all love comes from god. so the gift would be to simply pray at easter to receive the gift and love other people. actually authentically love them, even like them. >> that's a tall order. rabbi? you can love people and not like them. you really can. >> we can disagree with people

and still love them. we can likethem, too. there's nothing wrong with liking them. but disagreements do not need to lead to anything worse than that. multiple range of opinion is ways a positive thing. >> all right. rabbi and monsignor, thank you. >> thank you so much. >> happy passover, happy easter. >> thank you for being with us. news 4 today continues. breaking news in montgomery county. a police officer killed in the line of duty. his cruiser somehow ran off the road and crashed. good morning.

welcome to new 4 today. >> is easter sunday, april 4, 2010. the news is ahead first we want to check in with meteorologist justin drabick. a beautiful day ahead of us. >> yeah. a beautiful holiday weekend and we will stretch that into the upcoming week. great news. outside now, a few clouds, but enough sun will warm us back up well to the 70s. somewhat cool, but still average for this time of year. in the 50s now, but by this afternoon, the sunshine should return and into the 60s by noontime. increasing sun for the afternoon, reaching high temperatures of the 70s, even upper 70s for the warm spots. and warmer this week. >> glad to hear it. >> we are following breaking news from wheaton this morning.

police investigating a deadly car accident that involved one of their own. it happened early this morning on randolph road in wheaton, maryland. derrick ward has more details for us. >> reporter: montgomery county police are continuing their investigation of this accident. it happened at about 2:55 this morning in the 3000 block of randolph road. want to show you footage from that scene. joining us is captain paul stks what can you tell us about this accident? >> about 2:21 this morning, an officer called out with a police car collision. the officers were responding to a fight call that involved a large number of people. one of the officers who was responding was traveling westbound on randolph road. for reasons still under investigati investigation, his cruiser left the roadway and he struck a tree. he was transported to holy cross hospital where he was pronounced dead. >> and we are not identifying this officer as of this time.

can you tell us how long he's been on the force? >> he's seven-year veteran, assign to the fourth district station and on the midnight shift. >> and this is effecting the shift. you have taken steps now help the officers deal with this? >> at the time -- the shift gets off about 6:00 a.m. but at the time his workmates were taken off the road, and other officers from around the county came in to answer calls in the 4th district. >> so the invtigation continues now. any idea of road surfaces or things like that at the time of the accident? >> not right now. it's still very fresh, but the investigation is continuing. the collision reconstruction unit is still on the scene. >> that's what we know at this point. a tragic loss of a montgomery county police officer this morning in this single car accident which is still under investigation. live in wheaton, now back to you. >> derrick, thank you very much. it is easter, the holiest

day on the christian calendar. and right now sunrise services under way at the lincoln memorial. here's a live look from our city cam. thousands attending the service at the lincoln memorial. it's organized by capital church in vienna, an interdenominational congregation. pope benedict celebrated east werer with a mass this mor. hundreds of thousands turned out. he said easter brings a message of pardon, goodness and truth to a suffering world. he decried the suffering of ristians in pakistan and elsewhere because of religious beliefs, and remembered the earthquake victims in haiti and chile. some criticized the pope and others for a cover up of what they say by priests.

a priest who teaches ethics in rome says easter may be the perfect time for the catholic church to renew itself to its people. >> it'like having to have surgery to remove a tumor. the scandal is an opportunity to cure the disease so that the priesthood can be built up in the future. >> attorneys of abuse victims in the u.s. released more duments showing church officials knew about the problem but did nothing. the big game is set. we know who is heading to the ncaa championship. here is your sports minute. >> reporter: good morning. your sports minute on this easter sunday begins with the final four and the national championship is set. duke against west virginia last night for the chance to advance. the blue devils downed the mountaineers, 78-57 thanks in part to john shier. he scored 23 points. duke will go for its fourth national championship in school history. duke will meet underdog butler on monday night.

the hometown bulldogs beat michigan state 52-50. gordon heyward scored 19 points. butler wins its 25th straight game and will appear in the ncaa title game for the first time in school history. on the ice, capitals in columbus. alexander semin scored his 38th goal of the season, the caps win it 3-2 setting a franchise record with their 51st victory. in baseball, the nationals wrapped up spring training against the red sox yesterday. kevin youkilis hit a two-run homer in the first inning and the sox never looked back. the nats fall 6-1. opening day is monday against the phillies. that's your sports minute. him hakem dermish. we now know gilbert arenas will serve his time at a halfway house in montgomery county. he pleaded guilty back in january to possessing a gun

without a license. a judge sentenced him to 400 hours of community service and 30 days in a halfway house. arenas will serve his time at the montgomery county pre-release center, which allows residents to leave for work or community service. arenas' arrival date has not been released for security reasons. but it is expected to happen soon. new this morning, keep an eye on your bank account if you use the atm at congressional plaza in montgomery county. police say they found a device on a wachovia bank atm in the 1600 block of rockville pike in rockville. an alert citizen saw some sort of skimming device saturday night. police are trying to figure out what that device is the bank has been notified. if you used that atm, check for strange activity on your account. the time is 7:37. >> this is to go. i hit this. and it was like vroom.

>> an 8-year-old takes his parents van for a spin. find out where h was going. and here's one way to get out your aggression who is behind the massive pillow fight in d.c. and will t weather held out for your easter sunday? how about the work week? justin's full forecast is coming up. ♪

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the cherry blossom festival is drawing thousands to the nation's capital. tourists and washingtonians struggles to get around the district. when this happens we encourage you to take public transportation, but even metro riders were delayed. >> reporter: during the day, the tidal basin was packed with people, traffic in the area was gridlocked. tour i tourists converged to see the cherry blossom trees. >> by evening the crowds had thin, but people were still walking around the basin taking in the beauty of the trees on this gorgeous weekend. >> well, it's almost over and i'm leaving back home in 19 days. i'm going to miss it it looks so nice. >> reporter: for those who tried

to drive here it was all but useless. many motorists found themselves stuck in cars. it seemed the best way to get around was on foot. >> what did you think of all the people. >> it's crazy today. yesterday as well. we went to the zoo. >> reporter: visitors say the metro stations were packed as well, so many tourists heading to the mall and other destinations. some were inconvenienced when a bomb threat and suspicious package closed the pentagon city metro station for two hours. but for most people, the difficulty in getting here was worth the trouble to see the blo blossoms in pink bloom. >> it was very romantic. the trees -- and you're sitting on the green lawn, too many people. i would have preferred to be a little more alone. >> reporter: what did you think of washington today with all of the people? >> a little too much. a little crowded. >> reporter: the cherry blossom festival has been excellent for tourism. some tourists tell us they got some great package deals to stay at area hotels for the weekend. at the tidal basin, darcy spencer, news 4 today.

>> never get tired of seeing those cherry blossoms. next up is "the today show." it starts at 8:00. jenna wolfe is live in new york with a preview. how are you doing? >> i'm good. thank you. coming up this morning on "today" buffeted by sex abuse scandals, the vatican kept up its defense of the pope. we'll have a live report from rome. then look at this. a dramatic rescue caught on tape. a 2-year-old plunges 20 feet into the east river but is saved by her father who dove in after her. we will talk with two eyewitnesss who saw the event unfold. and then we'll head to augusta for a preview of what could be a wild week in the golf world as tiger woods is set to make his return to the greens. and we will explain why this guy has become an overnight sensation on youtube, thanks in part t jay-z and his state of mind. all that and more when we see you later on "today."

back to you. >> thanks. happy easter to you. >> and to you as well. the soyuz spay craft docked at the international space station overnight. an american and two russian astronauts joined three other crew members that were already at the iss. nasa plans to launch shuttle "discovery" tomorrow morning, that crew will dock at iss for a 13-day mission this will mark the first time four women are in space at the same time. a pile of weeds saved a man who crashed his hang glider in massachusetts yesterday. he crash landed short of the runway and got stuck in a thick pile of weeds and branches. they cushioned his fall. rescue crews used ropes and a harness to pull him out. the man says he's a little embarrassed. other than that, he's doing fine. is there an 8-year-old boy who doesn't love a car? well, this 8-year-old decided to pop behind the wheel of his

parents minivan while they were sleeping because he was trying to help him out. he's lucky he was not hurt. >> reporter: the skid marks show an accident from a trip that came up a little short. turns out, that's not all that is a little short. >> this is the brake, this is the gas. >> reporter: so was the driver. 8-year-old jordan winter who shows us how he had to stand up to reach the pedals and hey, since he already knew how to have fun. >> i scared the cat. i went vroom vroom. >> reporter: so why not go for a little ride. before it was over, he scared more than the cat. >> i had to turn, and i -- then i crashed into a -- i almost crashed into the -- >> reporter: telephone pole? >> telephone pole.

>> reporter: this is the van he was driving. his parents van. they were still asleep when jordan took off and got a wake-up call that was a wake-up. >> i got woken up by the sheriff knocking on our door. >> reporter: james crouch said he was trying to be helpful. >> he was trying to get gas in thvan. he was still in his jammies. >> reporter: jordan didn't make it to the gas station. in fact, he only travelled about a hundred yards or so altogether. but he will get mileage out of what he learned today. >> did you learn a lesson out of this? >> yeah. >> what's the lesson? >> never to drive unless you're 16. >> the towns local newspaper reports that jordan is likely to be cited for driving without a license no word on what his parents are thinking, where they keep the keys now. >> not in the car, not anywhere he can reach them. >> no 7:46 now. let's check in with justin. we have another gorgeous day ahead. >> gorgeous easter sunday. we'll keep it going into the

upcoming work week as 80 degree temperatures return. also we'll talk about some rain chces. i'll let you know when you may need the umbrella. monday northerni morning on today, the easter egg roll, and take me out to the ball game. even if you don't care about the game, we have information you will want to know. will want to know. see you monday morning at 4:30 it's definitely expensive having a growing family. and it's something that you think about. we try to be conscious of that and plan out our meals so that we can feed everyone on a budget.

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[ female announcer ] resistible crescent rolls. "hoo hoo!" [ female announcer ] only from pillsbury made with gooey hersheys mini-kisses. spontanious joy may occur. all the painting is done by now. the white house easter egg roll is tomorrow. the largest public event held at the white house every year. about 30,000 people from all 50

states are expected to be there. kids just won't roll easter eggs, they'll get a lesson in healthy eating, activities promoting healthy living and exercise. i've got to tell you, i've been to an easter egg roll at the white house, the parents are way more excited than the kids. >> it's all about the competition. >> it is. getting the egg, the commemorative egg. people will do major things for those eggs. >> justin, when they're out there tomorrow, nice weather to be chasing eggs. >> they can be excited about the weather. i'm excited about it. it's great to forecast temperatures approaching the 80 degree mark. a spectacular forecast coming up. there are some clouds, but they are breaking up as expected as we have a weak cold front swinging on through. it's coming through, so mid to high-level clouds going on. not like yesterday morning when we had the fog roll in from the

east, snuckn there and kept the temperatures cool. different story today, also decent sun out. a bit of a cooler start at 55 degrees here at national airport. light breeze out of the northeast should switch around to the northwest. last year easter sunday we were much cooler as high temperatures were in the mid 50s. that's where we stand right now. it's 7:51, and we will quickly lime back up to the 70s. possibly upper 70s for the warm spot. 50s widespread across the downtown washington area. look out towards the blue ridge. temperatures already in the 60s. that's because of the winds downsloping off the mountains. it compresses and warms up. those areas on the warm side. with that northwest wind, we won't be dealing with bay breezes. right along the coastal waters, except along the eastern shore. probably feeling the influence of the cool, bay waters coming in this afternoon. elsewhere, looking dry.

doppler radar shows nothing going on. limited moisture, we saw a few clouds around. temperatures warm along the east coast. even behind the cold front, you would expect a drop off in the air temperatures. that's not happening. the air mass is not much different than what we're dealing with now. over the past 12 hours, you can see those clouds moved through, with the front over us now. a few bands of clouds, but, again, they're thinning out. plenty of sun moving in. high pressure off to the coast and to the west will dominate our weather. what that means is dry weather, clouds from time to time, but no big storms as those areas of high pressure will block major storm systems from getting in there. that changes later on in the week. here we go. a few clouds off and on throughout the afternoon. we will call it sunny. by tomorrow morning, a nice start to the day. later in the afternoon, a weak disturbance in the jet stream tries to bring more clouds in.

maybe touching off showers in the mountain, that clears out for tuesday. we'll really turn the heat on. so for easter sunday, again, a few clouds now giving way to mostly sunny skies by the afternoon. how about your monday, 78 degrees, opening day nationals and phillies, great pitching match-up, john landon and roy halladay. down right hot tuesday and wednesday. looks like later thursday into friday we have some showers and cooling into the 60s. >> something that we enjoy about you, you get weather and sports from justin. >> in sports t sounds like migh another star. >> happy easter, we start with the redskins, and apparently the redskins are throwing their names into the donovan mcnabb

sweepstakes, that's according to fox sports reporter, jay blazgl. jay glazer tweeted last night there is more interest from the skins for mcnabb. heard they even talked players in a related stories, skins corner deangelo hall has advice for mcnabb. he said "he doesn't want to go to oakland, tell him that. the redskins have no comment. on the ice, the capitals in columbus. alex ovechkin and the capital going for win number 51. brooks likes alexander semin, he shoots and scores. a hot shot. his 38th goal of the season. later, same score. and more caps. tom pody dumps it in. and fair to knuble to fleschman, 2-0 washington lead. fleschman tallies his 22nd of the season. minutes later, more capitals on the power play.

columbus tries to clear it, but mike green grabs it and says you are to the stopping this shot, dude. green scores his 19th of the season. 74th point. caps take a 3-0 lead after the first. jose theodore was the man. shuts the door down the stretch, making 34 saves in all. the caps win it 3-2 setting a franchise record with their 51st victory. talking baseball now. the nationals pitching rotation is set. yesterday righty garrett mock was named the starter in place of garrett olson who was sent down. pitching is not the biggest problem. we're at nats park, d.c. mayor adrian fenty throwing the first pitch. looks good. didn't bounce it. nice job, mr. mayor. top of the first, no score. youkilis with a man on. he leaves that up and over the plate. youkil crushes this to left for a two-run homer. jim riggleman thinking, come on, man. come on. help me out here.

red sox take a 2-0 lead like that. top of the sixth, 4-0 red sox. sean burnett on the hill. pudge rodriguez sets up outside. but the pitch is not outside, over the inside half of the plate. bill hall sends it down the right field line. mike lowell and jason varitek come around to score. boston on top 6-0. hall ends up with a two rbi triple. bottom of six, still 6-0 sox. ryan zimmerman up with runners on the corner against daisuke matsuzaka. zimmerman drives one to right, check out josh redick. simply glovely. desmond tags and scores, but that's as close as the nats get. they lose it 6-1. the games count for real on

monday. the nats home opener set for 1:05 against the phillies. arrive early, the president is throwing out the first pitch. college lacrosse last night, maryland against the best team in the land, the number one ranked virginia cavaliers. the last time to terps and cavs played it went seven overtimes. no o.t. in this one. late period first, virginia up 5-0. john holdy makes the move and fires one into the net. just like that, cavs up 6-0. but the terps comes back. yateman feeds cummings up over front. the terps cut the deficit to one. just over a minute later. made's dan burn comes up with the steal. feeds grant catalino for the shot. giddelman blocks it, gets the rebound, tie game. but not so fast. take another look. young steps on the red crease line when he scores, you can't do that. no goal. they play on. maryland still down a goal. second play, virginia seals it. number one shamel bratton, he's really good. looking for some space, creates

it and scores. virginia hangs on to win it, 11-9. they are 10-0. the terps fall to 6-2. d.c. united playing its home opener last night against new england. black and red seeking redemption after a 4-0 shutout last weekend and a huge crowd on hand for the opener at rfk stadium, beautiful night for it, but it didn't go well. 80th minute scoreless. new england wearing white. tracked down for the revoluti, crosses it into the box. check out kenny minsali. beats troy perkins. new england up 1-0. minutes later here comes new england again and it's kenny minsali again, shoots it from about 20 yards out and this is what you call an upper-90 shot. d.c. united falls 2-nil the final. that's your morning sports on this easter morning. i'm hakem dermish, have a great day. >> thanks. in case you missed it, yesterday

was international pillow fight day. of course there were plenty of people in d.c. eager to take part. this started in front of the washington monument at 2:00 and moved to dupont circle. 600 billow fighters were involved. there were rules, however. among them, hit lightly, and no using down pillows. they're too messy. in case this event sounds familiar, capital improv organized the event. they were the same group who organized no pants days on the metro. >> that is it for news 4 today. >> "the today show" is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with a local news update.